New travel bans and visa limits target dozens of countries as administration cites terrorism risks, visa overstays, and labor market abuse.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Immigration restrictions ordered by Donald Trump formally took effect Jan. 1, imposing full travel bans and partial entry limitations on nationals from dozens of countries under a series of executive actions signed late last year.
According to the text of the executive order, the administration is now fully blocking entry for nationals of Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria, as well as individuals holding Palestinian Authority travel documents. The president signed the orders on Dec. 16, with enforcement beginning at the start of the new year.
The White House said the restrictions were implemented for national security and public safety reasons, citing the presence of terrorist organizations in several of the affected countries, high visa overstay rates, and repeated refusals by some governments to accept deported nationals during U.S. removal proceedings.
The proclamation also maintains full travel restrictions already imposed last year on Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
In addition to the full bans, partial entry restrictions remain in place for nationals of Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Cuba, Togo, and Venezuela, according to the order.
The White House said Turkmenistan was the only country removed from all U.S. travel restriction lists, a change outlined in a December fact sheet that also took effect Jan. 1.
The new measures further tighten restrictions on Palestinians, expanding earlier limits that had already made it nearly impossible for holders of Palestinian Authority passports to obtain U.S. travel documents for business, work, education, or tourism. Under the updated rules, individuals with those passports are now barred from immigrating to the United States.
In explaining the decision, the administration said in December guidance that multiple U.S.-designated terrorist groups operate in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and have killed American citizens, while ongoing conflict has likely compromised vetting and screening systems.
Separately, U.S. immigration officials confirmed that the administration has begun implementing changes to the H-1B visa program, replacing the long-standing random lottery with a weighted system favoring higher-paid applicants.
“The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by U.S. employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official Matthew Tragesser told ABC News. He said the revised system is intended to align the program more closely with congressional intent and reduce labor market abuse.
Since returning to office last year, Trump has made mass deportations, expanded border enforcement, and tighter immigration controls central pillars of his second administration. Within hours of his inauguration, he signed multiple executive orders addressing border security, asylum policy, and citizenship issues.
Administration officials have said enforcement will intensify further in 2026, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement is set to receive additional funding under a 2025 law, allowing for expanded detention capacity and increased hiring.
Last month, White House border czar Tom Homan told Reuters that deportation numbers are expected to rise sharply next year, including stepped-up workplace enforcement actions, as the administration moves to accelerate removals and further restrict illegal immigration.
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